Lachrymose
by the shattered star
Summary: A one-shot of the King and Queen of Attolia's wedding night. Rated T just to be safe.


**A/N Pretty straightforward actually; Eugenides and Irene's wedding night. Enjoy, and please leave a review! **

"_Lachrymose"_

Attolia folded her hands as she waited at the window. She half expected Eugenides to come crawling through the window, but she didn't think him as stupid as that. After all, half the court would know about it before morning came, and the last thing she wanted on the morning after her wedding was a dirty rumor.

She let out an almost inaudible sigh as she crossed her legs. She straightened her gown. He was there as she looked up.

"My Queen," he said upon realizing that she had caught him looking. He quickly averted his gaze and stepped neatly into the room, closing the door firmly behind him. He approached her seated form and bent, taking one of her white hands and kissing it gently.

"Eugenides, as much as you may hate it, you are my equal now. There is no need to kneel," Attolia said, an amused tone to her voice.

"I don't think so, my Queen. You will always be my superior. In my mind, I am always Eugenides, and you are always Attolia," he whispered. Attolia was about to say that humbleness did not suit him, but she could have sworn she spotted fear darting behind his dark eyes.

"Why don't you be Eugenides tonight, and I'll be Irene," Attolia said, kissing Eugenides' forehead. Eugenides looked up and kissed her mouth, still gently.

"I, um, actually have something to ask of you…" the former thief murmured. Attolia got up briskly.

"You can never just let it be, can you?" she asked, her voice dangerously quiet. For some reason, she saw her words give strength to Eugenides.

"Reduce the Guard by half," he said.

"That's not a question."

"No, it's a demand."

"You will not control me! I shall not abide by your rules! You forget what power I still have, Thief!" Attolia yelled, losing all self-control immediately. Eugenides did that to her; he would utter one sentence and she would completely lose herself.

"I do not forget. I am constantly reminded," Eugenides said quietly, holding up his hook. Attolia could not believe it. He dared remind her of something she had done herself? Did he think her completely incapable? She knew she had made a mistake in marrying him, even if it meant total destruction of her country otherwise. She couldn't deal with this. It was too much! He was asking her to change things on their wedding night. _Their wedding night! _

Attolia grabbed the closest thing to her, which happened to be an inkpot and threw it at her husband. He ducked. "You are so infuriating!" she shrieked when she saw that the pot had missed its mark and had instead shattered on her door leaving big globs of ink running down the wood, like watercolors on paper.

"And you think you're still in complete control!" the thief countered. "I was under the impression that we were equals in this."

"Well then you were wrong, weren't you!"

"My request is simple."

"And if I get killed because of it? What then?"

"I wouldn't let that happen."

"And how would you stop it?"

"I still have certain skills—"

"You are not a god, Thief!" Attolia fairly exploded. She could feel her face starting to get red with anger. "You are not indestructible."

"I think you've proven that quite well!" Eugenides snapped, and now he was shouting too.

"I did what I had to do. No, I didn't. I should've hanged you!"

"Yes, you should've, and you could've disposed of me!" Eugenides proclaimed, and he was roaring with anger now. "You know what you should've done? You should've tortured me slowly, made me suffer 'til the end, and then, I think, you would've been satisfied!" He could see that Irene was starting to get frightened at this point. Her eyes had lost some of their fire, he face was starting to pale. "Why didn't you, Attolia? Why didn't you just kill me then and get it over with. You wouldn't even have had to, just get someone to do it for you and then send my decrepit rotting body back to Eddis!" Eugenides had gone too far, he could sense it in the air. He watched Attolia's mouth open to reply to his rant, but then it closed. And tears began to fall from her eyes.

Eugenides stood frozen, watching his Queen weep. The tears were silent at first, but then Attolia started to sniff, and then when she inhaled, her breath was ragged. Eugenides closed his eyes in defeat. He couldn't believe he had just turned a simple request into a full-fledged argument. And it was all his fault. This definitely could've waited until tomorrow.

"Irene," he said, slowly advancing towards her. "I can't control myself. I'm so sorry," he whispered raggedly. "I should never have married you; I don't know what I'm saying half the time, and you… Well, I'm the one thing that let's you lose your image of serenity." He approached his Queen and put his hand to her cheek. He didn't draw it back when she flinched.

"Don't lie," she said to him, though the words weren't hot or intimidating. "You do know what you're saying."

"Would I lie to you?" Eugenides asked, his eyes shining. A chuckle escaped Irene's lips. Eugenides gathered her in his arms and placed her on the bed where he pulled off his boots and lay next to her. She rested her head on his shoulder.

"Eugenides?" she questioned.

"Hmmm?" Eugenides murmured as he stroked Irene's hair.

"You know I would never hurt you. Well, unless I was really justified…" she added darkly, looking up into his eyes.

"I know, Irene," Eugenides said, bending down to kiss his wife. Something wet landed on Irene's cheek.

"Eugenides, are you _crying?_"

"No," Eugenides said gruffly. Irene looked up at him again, placing a hand on his cheek.

"What happened?"

"I just… It'll never go back to the way it was," he said, trying to keep his words even. Irene sat up and gathered him in her arms.

"No, it won't," she said, understanding what he was talking about. "You won't have the same relationship with Eddis that you used to. Not with the country, nor the Queen. But you can always go and visit for a few weeks," she pointed out. "I could make up some sort of excuse…" She trailed off. They both knew she was lying.

Eugenides wiped the tears from his eyes with his hand, sniffling a little. "What a pair we make, Irene. Both crying on our wedding night…" His comment had them both laughing. Irene placed her head against Eugenides' shoulder again and let out a little sigh.

"Give me your right arm," she said to Eugenides, motioning with her head. He did so hesitantly, and she placed the limb in her lap. Gently, she pulled on the string that secured his hook to his arm and undid the knot. Slowly, she pulled the hook off the limb, placing it carefully on the table next to the bed. She undid the buttons near his wrist and looked at the stump. She looked up at Eugenides who seemed to have paled. He was now grimacing. "I gave you this," she whispered, using a slender finger to trace the shape of his arm. "I don't believe I ever apologized."

"There's no need. A hand for one I love? I think it's a fair trade," Eugenides said, though the grimace rested on his face. Irene kissed the limb gently.

"There is need," she insisted gently. "I'm sorry, Gen. I'm sorry for maiming you, and hurting you, and loving you."

Eugenides sighed. "You need not apologize for the last one… What was it again?"

"Oh that's clever, that is," Irene said, not fooled for an instant.

"Say it again anyways," Eugenides said.

"I love you." Irene whispered. She kissed his mouth.

"And I love you, my Queen," Eugenides said, smiling one of the few real smiles Irene had ever seen him smile. He bent down and kissed her again. "And this is our wedding night…" he said, smiling mischievously. Irene caught the look in his eyes, and smiled back at him coyly.

"That it is," she murmured.

**A/N I decided to end it there for understandable reasons. ;) I hope you enjoyed! Review, please! Danke. Bisous ~ the shattered star**


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